US Republican Senator Tim Scott withdraws from 2024 presidential race
- The South Carolina senator, who entered the race in May with high hopes, made the surprise announcement on Fox News
- Scott said he wouldn’t immediately be endorsing any of his Republican rivals, and had no interest in becoming a running mate
US Senator Tim Scott announced on Sunday that he is withdrawing from the US presidential race, saying voters had given him a clear message of “not now”.
The South Carolina lawmaker, who was running to become the first black Republican president, had been struggling to rise above the pack in the party’s crowded field.
Polling in sixth place among Republican primary candidates, the 58-year-old had only 2.5 per cent of the vote, according to the RealClearPolitics average of recent major opinion polls.
“I am suspending my campaign. I think the voters who are the most remarkable people on the planet have been really clear that they’re telling me: ‘Not now Tim’,” he told the Fox News show Sunday Night in America.
The news was so unanticipated that one campaign worker told Associated Press that campaign staff found out Scott was dropping out by watching the show.
Scott officially announced he was running for the Republican nomination in May after spending months visiting the states considered crucial to gaining early momentum in the contest.